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Buddha's Box LbNA #40479 (ARCHIVED)

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:May 7, 2008
Location:
City:Fullerton
County:Orange
State:California
Boxes:2
Planted by:Take A Hike Club
Found by: Kelsung
Last found:Jun 15, 2008
Status:FF
Last edited:May 7, 2008
Fullerton Arboretum is located on 26 beautiful acres at the north end of Cal State Fullerton Campus - 1900 Associated Road in Fullerton.
It is 1 block west of the 55 freeway on Yorba Linda Blvd.
Open daily from 8 AM to 4:45 PM - Free parking and free admission

As you enter the park you will cross a bridge over the stream. Continue walking straight ahead till you see a path to the right crossing another bridge. Follow that path through a small redwood forest featuring various redwood trees. You will pass a large stand of bamboo and pass another section of the lake. Watch for blue or white heron. They love the arboretum.

Stop when you come to a path that forks off to the left around the lake. Directly on your left stands a Queen Palm. From there, look ahead down the main path and you will see a bodhi tree, sometimes called a Bo Tree. It is a variety of fig tree, and it looks like it has 9 trunks. Take 20 or so steps in that direction, but stop and look at the Orchid tree on your right. It has both pink and white blossoms on it. Actually, it is 2 trees, but the branches intermingle, so it looks like a single tree.

Take another 25 or 30 steps to the bodhi tree. It is a variety of fig tree, and it looks like it has 9 trunks. It is said that Buddha was born under a bodhi tree, and that he meditated under a bodhi tree for 6 years before he became enlightened. Then he began teaching his insights, and Buddhism spread throughout India, Indonesia, China, Japan, and later around the world. I am told that Buddhism is not a religion. It is a way of life.

Go around to the back of the tree and look for Buddha's Box in the crevice between two trunks - under some leaves. Ahhhh - Nirvana! (peace) Or should you say "Eureka! I found it!" Oh, that's a different piece of history.

After you stamp in to Buddha's logbook, continue to the right on the path, and in about 50 steps you will come to a smaller bodhi tree that was planted by the Dali Lama in 2000. There is a large marker with his picture and details of the event.

This is near the east end of the park, so continue on around the loop. You will pass a section that has plants and trees indigenous to Aftica. The next section is American. There is a huge tree several steps off the path, on the left, that is not really a tree. My botanist friend explained that all trees are wood. This tree is NOT wood. Every branch, limb and even the trunk, are fibers, so it is not a tree. It is an herb. Fascinating!

Be sure to see the children's garden, the garden plots, and the many other points of interest. It's a wonderful place.